Video Editing

Okay… first, I wasn’t sure if this question was in New & Discussion or not, so I just planted it here…
Anyway, I’ve been looking at some of the commercial and more powerful applications for video editing as iMovie sucks for this kind of stuff. (I have a macbook, pre-leopard) I need something with good audio support and stuff, as well as compositing support and other things that I may not be able to foresee. Any suggestions? (less than $500)

Blender? :wink:

the most popular would be FinalCut, AfterEffects and Premier, all from Adobe.

if you want to go pro its Smoke and Combustion from Autodesk (but thats prolly out of financial reach).

maybe some older version of the mentioned Adobe products, they pretty much do the same things, CS3 (Adobe Creative Suite 3) is not always necessary.

as for Blender…meh i guess it COULD do the job.

Well I use Sony Vegas, but I may be getting Adome Premier and After Effects soon…

Vegas is pretty cheap(I got my copy for 100$), the other two are a bit pricier, but worth teh money.

I agree. Adobe Premiere, after effects and photoshop all tie in to create a powerfull editing pack however it is a big memory hog and will cause frustration with anything less than 1Gb …I was getting regular freezes until I lifted to 2Gb.

Please be more specific with what source media you are using, there maybe other options better suited.

ifx, CS3 doesnt even install on computers with less than 1gb ram (you CAN bypass that)

and to be honest, 1gb for video editing is really needed, completely regardless of the program (maybe except vDub <.<)

as for me, AfterEffects and Premier run pretty smooth here, as long as youre not going HD or Bluray (3ghz p4 on 1gb corsair ram)

also you can always edit in quarter resolution off-line and render it on-line later (if youre really on some old computers like we are at school -> bunch of G3s)

on the other hand, i can crush my laptop with 4gb ram with afterEffects too, especially with HD as uncompressed avis :stuck_out_tongue:

The most popular for mac is probably Final Cut (not from Adobe, AdamTM :p) and is quite an industry standard. Although you could probably argue Premiere is used too, in reality it’s mainly FinalCut and Avid that are used (Avid’s probably a bit too expensive for your needs, unless you get the academic version).

Blender could be used for basic editing, but one you learn how to use a commercial editor, the VSE is just painfully slow - or just different :stuck_out_tongue:

Basically any of the programs the dudes above me have mentioned can be used… It’s really up to personal preference so just download the trial versions and try them out in some real projects…

have fun!

well… is there a trial version of Final Cut?

Sony Vegas 8 Pro is the best in my opinion. You can get it for $129.00 at B+H photo at the link below. This version does not come with DVD Architect (the program that makes the DVD menus). The nice thing is that you can write scripts in Java, C# or Visual Basic. I’ve never seen it this cheap. The full package (with DVD Architect) is about $450. If you already have a program that makes DVD menus, then all you need is Sony Vegas 8 Pro for $129.00. You cant go wrong for this price!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/536041-REG/Sony_VP8Q_Vegas_Pro_8_Video.html

There is also a “Lite” version that costs about $75. For the most part it does most everything you would need for basic to advanced editing, but you can not write scripts, or do green screen masks (I think). This version does comes with a lite versoin of DVD architect (makes DVD Menus).
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/514311-REG/Sony_SVMS8000_Vegas_Movie_Studio_DVD_v8.html

BTW, there are trial versions of all the Sony Software here:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/trials

Sony Vegas FTW

  • Vegas is only on Windows.
  • Adobe Premiere Elements is Windows only (it actually has very little in common with Premiere Pro.)
  • Adobe Premiere is close, but buying single apps isn’t as good of a value as the suite.
  • Adobe’s Production Premium Suite is over your budget.
  • Final Cut Studio is over your budgetSo, by elimination, I’d go with Apple Final Cut Express.

For what it’s worth, I used to swear by Cinelerra, but for some reason, the newer builds aren’t as stable as they used to be (!) so I switched to Blender & Kdenlive for editing.

okay, thanks guys/girls! I’ve gained a bit from all of you! I think I’ve made my decision so there’s no need to post anything else!

so… what is your decision? – just out of interest :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m always surprised when this comes up, and it seems to come up often, how few people recommend Blender…

The VSE and compositor are very powerful, just a shame they aren’t more integrated with each other. At least the interface will be familiar to most on these forums!

I used to use Adobe Premiere and Eyeon digital fusion for compositing, now I just use blender as once you get the hang of it its fast, lightweight and readily available…

doesn’t do camera tracking or stabilisation but the tight integration with the 3d modeler/renderer is really good.

Don’t forget it’s what the blender institute used to edit elephants dream and big buck bunny!

I cannot recommend Adobe Premiere, it’s one of the worst Adobe products ever. AFX is an awesome piece of software but Premiere is definetely not!